Fantastic Things

(l to r: Ed Gamarra, Ari Berk, Charles Vess, Tony DiTerlizzi, Elizabeth-Jane Baldry, Wendy Froud, Brian Froud) So I'm lucky enough to go to a school where one of the English professors is friends with people like Brian Froud. This past weekend was "Imagining the Fantastic," featuring Brian & Wendy Froud, Charles Vess, Tony DiTerlizzi, Elizabeth-Jane Baldry, Ari Berk (the English professor), and Ed Gamarra. It was absolutely amazing. I've been a fan of Brian Froud since I was probably 10 and my parents bought me Faeries that he did with Alan Lee. I have 10 books of his art, plus a few calenders at home, and Josh has 2 more. We got to see a bunch of his and Wendy's art and they discusssed future projects. Charles Vess works with Neil Gaiman quite a bit, and I just love his drawings in Stardust. The slides he showed of his art just glowed, and I want to go to Abington, VA to see the bronze Titania he made. Tony DiTerlizzi I didn't really know, but his stuff is gorgeous. He did the Spiderwick books and the new book, The Search for WondLa. He's also possibly crazy, but was a lot of fun to listen to. :) Elizabeth-Jane Baldry is an amazing harpist and she premiered her film, Sir Lanval, here over the weekend. Ari's an English teacher here and a good friend of Josh's. He's worked with Brian Froud on 4 books, I think, and has a novel coming out in the fall. Ed Gamarra was a professor out East and now works for the Gotham Group in LA. Each of their discussions was really neat to listen to, and the panels where they just talked amongst themselves were amazing. I could've done without the Q&A bits, but otherwise it was pretty much the best weekend ever. :) School's been keeping me really busy lately. I had a 20 page paper due Monday for my Civil War class. I have my research paper on The Birth of a Nation due next Monday. I still have one book review to finish, and one exam left to take. I haven't even looked at the book for the last exam...

I've knit a bit though. :) I spent 3 Sundays in a row at my friend's apt. watching the Mildred Pierce mini on HBO. I didn't really care for the mini - no one was likeable at all - but I got more of Josh's sweater done. :)I needed a break the other night after having worked on my Civil War paper all day Sunday, so Monday I started Skew. I needed something small that I could take places and that would knit up easily. After a bit of a hiccup with the needles and the first couple rows, it's been going really well. I really love the yarn (some fingering weight called "Wicked" from Woolen Mill St. Yarns); it's super soft and easy to work with and the colors are just amazing. And I finally have an idea for the other yarn I got from her; we'll see when it gets made though. :) Tanis Fiber Yarns are giving away some gorgeous silk yarn. Go enter! :)